The Greenbelt continues to be front stage in Ontario politics. Doug Ford’s reversal on his stance to allow developers to begin building inside the Greenbelt is proving to be rather unpopular to say the least.
According to the Ontario Progressive Conservative government the land is too valuable to not build housing on. However, is that the only way to view the Greenbelt? As a plot of land waiting to build housing on? Michael Twigg of the Smart Prosperity Institute says otherwise.
He helped to author a paper which views the Greenbelt as an invest waiting to be made in the conservation of the land. Helping to preserve it to offset insurance costs, environmental concerns as well as the recreation values to be extracted from the Greenbelt. The paper goes on to see how actual fiscal rewards can be extracted from the land now, rather than as land speculation down the road.
We speak with Michael on this episode about his report and how we can shift our thinking on the Greenbelt to something more productive for all Ontarians.
Read the report here: https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/publications/investing-ontarios-greenbelt
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Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!